Reading books by Milan Kundera always give you ideas. His books most often contain ideas that are already in you. They’re often the thoughts you’re not willing or ready to accept.
What "was" can never be, so don't worry about it.
Nostalgia and remembering our past
Nostalgia – a wistful affection for the past. Or shall we call it, “The Good Old Times.”
Choosing to cling onto past reality is such a common and shared human concept and experience. There is a certain sense of comfort in your memory. A familiar space where you believe you can crawl back to.
Why are we so drawn to the past? Why are we interested in it? Our minds are not perfect recording devices nor are they perfect storage devices. On top of that, they don’t “play back” perfectly. We’re not processing zeros and ones like a computer would. We are not perfect.
We can only hope to reconstruct our past somewhat accurately. If anything, we change our memory every time we access it.
We're not perfect at recording, storage or playback
“We won’t understand a thing about human life if we persist in avoiding the most obvious fact: that a reality no longer is what it was when it was; it cannot be reconstructed.
– Milan Kundera – Ignorance
So, what does it mean then that we remember something? Does it make it any less important that our minds can’t even reconstruct what was? I’m not talking about comparing our brains to machines.
I’m talking about whether our past is as important as it seems. Shouldn’t we live in the now and enjoy what we can more? We’re holding onto something that no longer is the reality. Its our excuse to not adopt the current reality.
Maybe that is what makes us imperfect and human. The ability to cling onto hope even by modifying what we remember.
Our world isn’t exactly perfect nor will it ever be.
Was the grass really greener?
We can’t have what we had. So, why not live, instead of relive.